


Warm Fuzzy Feeling

by TortiTabby



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Getting Together, M/M, Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 03:36:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17113718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TortiTabby/pseuds/TortiTabby
Summary: Dan is getting really tired of writing pieces on soulmates. Especially because he is of the opinion they don't exist.





	Warm Fuzzy Feeling

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pinkpuddles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pinkpuddles/gifts).



> Thank you @huphilpuffs & @maetaurus ! I appreciate you!

Dan pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled calmly and slowly. This was the tenth,  _ tenth _ , article he had been assigned in the last six months to write on Soulmates. 

Behind his eyes throbbed and he knew he was going to get migraine from clenching his jaw if he didn’t just take a second to relax, breathe through his nose, and finish looking over the dumbest article he’d seen yet.

It was just the fact that all of these people were telling lies. All of the quizzes were based on lies and all of the dramatic and emotional stories were lies. Soulmate’s weren’t real. Dan had seen and heard it all. He’s watched as the media manipulated loving couples with a cute, but again made up, love story and twisted it into a toxic commercialized trap.

If you weren’t with your soulmate there was something wrong with you. But Dan has watched as countless couples got together and broken up, only to say “this new person- they were the one I dreamt of.  _ This  _ was the one that made them feel the tingling buzzing sensation all through their body when they locked eyes.” How could anyone argue with saying you’ve found your Soulmate? 

Dan had ranted about it in the past, how people get excited at the prospect of falling in love and think they feel all the things they’ve grown up reading about or hearing of on television. Of course you would think that you found your soulmate once you felt infatuation and all the other emotions that were involved.

“You just haven’t felt it. Just because you haven’t found your soulmate doesn’t mean you need to spit on everyone else who’s found theirs, Dan,” his friend had replied before rolling his eyes and stalking away.

So Dan spent most of his time biting his tongue and trying not to roll his eyes too obviously whenever his boss assigns him another “heart wrenching soulmate piece.”

 

Which was precisely how he ended up writing to the author of a best seller all about Soulmates and meeting them.

This man, a Mr. Lester, would interview people who had the craziest stories of meeting their Soulmates. One woman, who was a volunteer emt met her husband while saving his life on an ambulance ride, another man’s dog ran away and ended up at his future husband’s house. They were all the kind of cutesy stories like that where they turned the corner and locked eyes with their Soulmates and felt the tingling sensation run through their bodies and angels floated down from the skies with their harps or whatever the hell else supposedly happens.

“You know I looked him up and he’s single right?” Dan drawled out while he leaned against his boss’s desk. 

His boss, Annie, looked over her red rimmed glasses and rolled her flawlessly outlined eyes. They both knew she didn’t have time for one of his tangents about Soulmates this morning. 

“So he doesn’t know what he’s talking about?” she said anyway with a small laugh. “Do you google the marital status of all of your assignments, Howell? Or just the fit, tall, sympathetic ones?” 

Dan flushed for a second - “Hey!” he howled with laughter and pointed over at her accusingly. “You looked him up too!” He cheered.

She turned bright red and stood to her feet to start shooing him out. “Go do your job, Howell!” she said sternly but Dan could hear the poorly hidden laugh in her voice. 

 

Dan sat at his desk and cracked his knuckles. He had done so many of these kinds of articles that this really should be a piece of cake. If he messaged this Mr. Lester and wrote up his first draft quickly he should be able to do a whopping total of absolute nothing this weekend and maybe even start it early in an hour or too.

 

_ Hello my name is Dan Howell. I’m doing the interview for ‘Hello Internet’- would you prefer  doing the interview through text or skype?” _ He was being lazy but honestly he could probably do this interview in his sleep at this point.

**Phil:** _ Hi Dan! I’m Phil! I haven’t done a lot of these before. I think text should be fine. _

**Dan:** _ So why don’t you tell me how you feel about Soulmates and the hype that’s around them? _

**Phil:** _ Uhh.. How unprofessional is it to type out “uh?” lol _

Dan let out a little laugh.

**Dan:** _“Pretty unusual but I’ll be summarizing anyway. It’s totally fine. Be whatever comes naturally to you.”_

**Phil: “** _ I’ll let you know what that is when I figure it out. Lol. Idk Soulmates are just nice and wholesome aren’t they? Have you met yours?” _

This guy definitely wasn’t used to interviews or anything like this, it was painfully obvious. Still, Dan couldn’t deny he was enjoying himself. 

**Dan:** “ _ Have you?”  _

**Phil:** _ No not yet but I was at the store a couple years ago and I felt it! I had that tingly warm sensation but it was a huge crowd so who knows where he was. _

Dan raised an interested eyebrow at the pronoun but didn’t comment on it.

**Dan:** _ Would you like to talk about how you went about making the book and what inspired you? _

**Phil:** Y _ ou never answered my question. Have you met your Soulmate??? _

Dan shook his head. This guy was relentless. 

**Dan:** _ No. Lol I don’t believe in Soulmates. _

He didn’t get a reply for several minutes. Just as he went to ask if he was still there the bubble popped up that Phil was typing.

**Phil:** _ WHAT. I changed my mind. I want to do this on Skype!  _

**Dan:** _ ….. Okay? _

**Phil:** _ Meet you in five. _

They exchanged Skype information and Dan sat back baffled, yet amused.

  
  
  
  
  
  


Dan headed to the closed off office they had for meetings or situations like these and waited nearly ten minutes for Phil to finally log on to Skype and start calling him. 

“What took you so long?” Dan started to tease. His words dried up on his tongue as a flushed pale face with large, astonishing blue eyes took up his computer screen. He had jet black hair swooshed into a quiff to compliment them. Phil was  _ hot _ . Plain and simple.

“This computer is ancient! I wasn’t  _ that  _ late.” He said crossly but with a small smirk.

“Okay so tell me why you decided to put together a book about Soulmates.” Dan said and switched on his recording app.

“No  _ you  _ tell  _ me  _ why you don’t believe in them.” Phil countered.

“You’re not interviewing me!” Dan laughed and shook his head.

Phil laughed as well, sticking his tongue out of the side of his mouth and scrunching up his eyes as he did so. It was surprisingly easy to talk to Phil.

“I just find it so fascinating and wholesome. Can you imagine being alone and then as soon as you see someone you realize that you’re not? It’s nice to think there’s someone out there for everybody. Have you read the book? It’s insane circumstances how some of them met!”

“I didn’t read all of it but I’ve read four or five stories from it. The ambulance one was pretty crazy.” Dan smiled at Phil. 

“I just can’t get past you not believing in them. Do you think all of those people are lying?”

Dan squirmed uncomfortably. “I don’t know I guess I think that people confuse infatuation with something huge and magical. I guess what bothers me is it being so commercialized and twisted into a big corporate thing that people take advantage of and use to manipulate other people. I just don’t think it’s a real thing.” Dan shrugged. He didn’t know why he would say all of this, and to a person who obviously believed in the opposite that he was  _ supposed  _ to be interviewing, no less. He wiped at his brow and wondered who turned the heat up in the building, Annie usually kept it fairly frigid.

Phil pouted at him. “I think that’s sad.” Dan opened his mouth to reply but Phil held up a hand to stop him.

“I think you’re right. Media has really taken advantage of it and twisted it into something else, so I can see where you’re coming from. That doesn’t mean it isn’t real though.” 

“How do you know if you haven’t met yours though?” Dan asked.

“I told you. I felt it when I was Christmas shopping but there was a huge crowd of people so I couldn’t really see him.” 

Dan looked into the camera and could feel his stomach do a small flip. He tried to ignore the fluttering of nerves inside of him and shake it off- he just really liked this guy. Sweat beaded at his brow and slowly dripped down the side of his face. Maybe he was coming down with something, he was typically much more put together than this.

“What’s your favorite band?” 

Dan sputtered a laugh. His cheeks burned from smiling.

“I don’t like making favorite lists I’ll always leave things off! I don’t know I like a wide variety of things.” He started naming off artists off the top of his head.

“Muse!” Phil interrupted excitedly. “I love Muse! What do you think of their new album”

They spent the next hour chatting excitedly about what songs were their favorites and what kind of video games and shows they grew up enjoying.

“I am so offended that you’ve never watched Buffy.” Phil declared at one point.

They kept talking until a loud rap on the door made Dan jump nearly out of his skin. He glanced at the clock and realized it had been hours. Instead of leaving early he had accidentally stayed late. 

“Dan?” Annie peaked her head in the door and arched a perfect eyebrow at him. He became hyper aware of his ridiculous posture as he sat sideways in the office chair, his long legs dangling over one of the arms. It certainly didn’t scream professional and she was a cool boss, sure, but she was still his boss and he could see the disapproval on her face.

“Sorry just finishing up this interview.” He said as he straightened up. He could feel his face burning hot. 

She peered at him without saying anything before shutting the door. Not a second later his phone vibrated violently. 

**Annie** : “ _ Wrap it up. It’s time to close up. We’ll talk about this tomorrow.”  _

“She didn’t look too thrilled.” Phil said sheepishly. 

Dan sighed. “I didn’t even get much of an interview. I forgot that’s what we were doing, to be honest.” he laughed.

“I don’t want you to get in trouble. Why don’t we meet up for coffee tomorrow and finish it up?” Phil suggested and Dan could see the sincere worry on his face.

“That would be great, actually.” Dan hurried to pack up his things but shot a grateful smile Phil’s way. “I better get out of this office before she kills me, though. Text me the time and place?”  
Phil agreed and hurriedly ended the call. 

 

“Sorry Annie!” Dan yelped as he scurried out of the office with his arms full of his things. “Interview went a bit longer than I anticipated.”

She frowned and waited until he had his things ready to leave before shutting the light off and waiting by the lift for him. It seemed it was just the two of them left.

She didn’t say anything until the lift doors shut and they headed to the ground floor.

“You can’t use that office for personal reasons and I hope to God you weren’t sat like that for the interview for real.”

Dan wasn’t sure what answer would hurt him more so he kept quiet.

“Listen, today was really out of character for you. Are you feeling alright? No offense but you’re sweating like an animal. I don’t think I’ve seen your hair this curly before.” 

He sighed, the teasing tone a much safer and more familiar territory than being scolded. 

“I am feeling a bit off today, actually. This heat doesn’t help though, why was the office so damn hot?” 

She gave him a searching look. “Was that a joke? It was in the 60’s like it always is. You know I can’t work if it’s too warm. At least it’s Friday. Take care of yourself this weekend and if you need Monday off I’ll make it happen.”

He agreed and they went their separate ways once the doors opened. 

 

His phone went off in his hand the minute he set it down by his keys when he was through his front door. 

**Phil:** “ _ Hope you’re not in trouble!” _

**Dan** _ : “Boss is pretty cool. I think I’m in the clear.”  _

 

He threw a microwave dinner together and melted into the soft cushion of his sofa. He was bone-tired for not really accomplishing anything for the day. 

He sluggishly texted Phil a while longer, subjects drifting from where they’d meet tomorrow to different kinds of pokemon, before he decided it was an early bedtime kind of night.

It turns out one o’clock in the afternoon can come awfully quick. Dan spent the morning rifling through his mountains of black clothes to find something appropriate to wear. He wasn’t sure why it mattered so much, it just did. 

He took extra time relaxing in the shower and if eyes the color of the sky popped into his head while he was taking  _ particularly  _ well care of himself, well nobody had to know. 

He threw on the outfit Annie fondly called  _ “the outfit”  _ that consisted of his black skinny jeans, of course, and a long gray shirt under a black denim jacket. He wore it maybe more often than he probably should wear one singular outfit but his reasoning was if it works, it works.

Sooner than later he found himself standing outside of the agreed upon Starbucks. He wasn’t sure why he felt so nervous after spending an entire day chatting with Phil. Walking through those doors felt like an act bigger than it was. He couldn’t shake the feeling that today was somehow  _ different _ .  

He was being absurd, he thought as he pulled on the heavy glass door and inhaled the grounding aroma of coffee everything. He moved to the side to allow a family to get in line ahead of him. He didn’t see Phil yet so there was no point in being impatient. 

A hand shot up from the back corner of the shop and Dan saw with a start that Phil  _ was  _ already there. He rose his hand back to Phil when he met his eyes and everything stopped.

Lightning traveled through every nerve of his body as his stomach knotted, hot and full of butterflies. He felt as light as he’s ever felt before as well as simultaneously feeling like his entire being was on fire. His eyes blurred with unshed tears. His heart hammered away in his chest as his mind struggled to catch up. It was real. It was all real and he had it, he found Phil. They found each other. He stared into Phil’s blue eyes that felt like home. 

Phil was staring back just as intently with his hand over his open mouth. He was standing shell shocked in the middle of a small crowd waiting to pick up their drinks.

“Phil?” The barista called in a tone that indicated it was not the first time she called his drink out.

Phil blinked and hurried to grab his drink and push through the crowd to get to Dan.

This couldn’t be real. Dan’s hands were shaking with the mere force of the feeling he’s read about hundreds of time by people who still somehow never quite captured it right. 

He glanced up at Phil who reached him and was staring at him intently but not making a move.

Dan let out a small chuckle before he threw his head back in laughter so strong it made his funny feeling belly ache. 

Phil set his drink down before grabbing onto Dan’s arms and staring him in the eyes. 

_ This is the funniest, craziest thing to ever happen _ , his eyes said. 

Dan just nodded and desperately filled his lungs with air as his laughter died off. 

“Hey,” Phil finally said softly with a chuckle. He reached out and wiped the tears Dan hadn’t realized were spilling onto his cheeks away with his thumb.

“Hey,” Dan replied. His heart felt full in a way it never had, a way he never realized it didn’t before. This was his person. His soulmate. Phil gingerly slid his arms around Dan’s torso to pull him into a tight hug that made Dan feel like he was floating. 

“This is going to be one hell of an article, yeah?” Phil whispered in his ear. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hi I hope you like this!!  
> I don't usually read Soulmate AUs but I really loved writing this.


End file.
